I am an American with a fairly neutral Arizona accent. Besides Arizona, I have also lived in Maryland and Wisconsin. I worked for about 20 years in sales, coaching, and management before I decided to go back to university and pursue my dream of being an educator. I am currently living in Southern Spain within walking distance of the Mediterranean but have also lived in Sweden, and the Philippines, as well as worked in Mexico. When I am not working I enjoy reading, swimming, and watching movies with my family or going for a walk on the boardwalk while listening to the waves break on the rocks. Karaoke is another pastime I absolutely love. I believe wholeheartedly in the notion that if you cannot sing well at least sing enthusiastically.

I have a Bachelor of Arts in English. I am currently working on completing two Master's degrees. One is a Master of Arts in English and the other is a Master of Arts in Secondary Education. In addition to that I am also completing the requirements for Grade 7-9 ESL Teaching Certification. These three educational endeavors are finalizing in 2023. I have about four years of experience teaching both in the classroom and online and have taught students as young as seven years old. My experience includes curriculum development, lecturing, and leading classroom discussions. In addition to traditional textbooks and e-books, I have also worked with music and film to facilitate language acquisition. I have also taken additional courses to further my teaching career. These include:

• Supporting Adolescent Learners: Social and Emotional Well-being.

• Teaching Students Who Have Suffered Complex Trauma.

• Bullying in Schools.

• History and Science of Psychology

• Developmental Psychology.

• Psychology of Personality

• Psychology of Learning

• Transforming Digital Learning

• Social Media Ethics

• IT Ethics.

• Leading Culturally Diverse Teams.

• Establishing a Professional Self Through Effective Intercultural Communication

I have always seen it as important to create a safe zone, for language learning, for my students. They should feel at ease with the learning process. All students are unique, so a teacher needs to be able to personalize the approach and contents within a lesson or curriculum. This sets the student up for success. Positive feedback and an encouraging atmosphere are key and are always part of the lessons. Depending on the student, I may work with different areas within language learning such as conversation, IELTS, vocabulary, reading, grammatical abilities, and pronunciation. The goal with my students is to provide the students with an experience that leads to a long-term student-teacher partnership. I use different ways to engage with the student depending on age, ability level, and personality. I use tools such as e-books, music, pictures, photographs, YouTube videos, online quizzes, and PowerPoint presentations when I teach. With all my one-on-one students I always seek to understand the level they are starting from, the goals they have with their language learning as well any concerns they have in regard to the English learning process.